The Roman alphabet was like the English alphabet except that it lacked the letters j and w, and the letter v originally represented both the vowel u and the sound of the English consonant w. The Roman names for the letters are generally similar to ours:

a b c ā bē cē

d e f dē ē ef

g h i gē hā ī

k l m cā el em

n o p en ō pē

q r s cū er es

t u x tē ū ix

Notice that c, k, and q are cē, cā, and cū, in Latin.

Two letters are borrowed from the Greek Alphabet, and used only in Greek words:

The letter ÿ comes from the Greek upsilon. The Romans called it "ÿ Graeca."

The letter z comes from the Greek zeta. The Romans called it "Zeta," with a long zz sound.